Congenital toxoplasmosis and prenatal care state programs
BMC Infectious Diseases·
- DOI
- 10.1186/1471-2334-14-33
- PMID
- 24438336
- PMCID
- PMC3918215
- OpenAlex
- W2075471455
- Study type
- Cohort study
- Publisher
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC
- Article type
- journal-article
- Integrity
- current
Why this research matters now
The findings support the implementation of both primary prevention measures for all pregnant women and secondary prophylaxis through seroconversion surveillance in seronegative pregnant women to reduce the severity of congenital toxoplasmosis in high-incidence settings.
Structured evidence summary
Research question
The study evaluated whether spiramycin treatment of pregnant women, in the absence of routine monitoring for toxoplasmosis seroconversion, influences outcomes in newborns at risk for congenital toxoplasmosis.
Study design
Prospective cohort study conducted in Goiânia, Brazil, following 246 newborns at risk for congenital toxoplasmosis from October 2003 to October 2011.
Population and setting
The study enrolled 246 newborns at risk for congenital toxoplasmosis in Goiânia, Brazil. The population included infants born to mothers with toxoplasmosis infection during pregnancy, some of whom experienced reactivation rather than primary infection.
Main findings
Spiramycin treatment during pregnancy reduced vertical transmission of toxoplasmosis. Among 162 neonates analyzed, 40.7% were born with serious infection. Lack of proper maternal treatment was significantly associated with severe neural-optical infection in newborns. Fetal IgM was linked to ocular impairment in 48.0% of cases, and neonatal IgA was associated with neuro-ophthalmologic and systemic disease forms. When acute toxoplasmosis was identified postpartum due to absent seroconversion monitoring in seronegative women, the risk of severe congenital infection increased.
Public-health relevance
The findings support the implementation of both primary prevention measures for all pregnant women and secondary prophylaxis through seroconversion surveillance in seronegative pregnant women to reduce the severity of congenital toxoplasmosis in high-incidence settings.
Important limitations
This summary relies on the supplied single-article abstract and metadata. Full interpretation of study limitations, including potential selection bias, diagnostic test performance, treatment adherence, confounding variables, and generalizability beyond the Goiânia setting, requires review of the complete published article.
GIDS interpretation
This article would be discoverable through GIDS queries for congenital toxoplasmosis, vertical transmission, prenatal screening programs, and spiramycin treatment in Brazil. The classifier links to surveillance, transmission dynamics, and treatment topics indicate relevance to public health monitoring frameworks, though the study itself describes a completed cohort analysis rather than real-time surveillance data.
Related GIDS surveillance
Literature context does not validate, explain, or change a surveillance signal. Exact and contextual relationships are shown separately.
Evidence relationships
This article has 10 auditable classifier relationships to diseases, places, topics, and study design.